Spca Board Member Insists She Was Forced To Resign Post * She Says Her Opinions Were Different From Others On Panel.

June 17, 1998|by SUSAN RUIZ PATTON, The Morning Call

A Northampton County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals board member says she was removed from the board after wrongly being listed for election at the group's annual meeting in April and not recommended by the board's nominating committee.

Melissa Rudas of Bethlehem, who last year was given two awards for volunteerism, blames her removal on her work with former board member Joyce Silverblatt on the SPCA's personnel committee.

FOR THE RECORD - (Published Thursday, June 18, 1998) A story about Melissa Rudas and Joyce Silverblatt being removed as directors on the board of the Northampton County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incomplete in some editions Wednesday. Here is the end of the story: Neither Rudas nor Silverblatt were recommended by the nominating committee. Silverblatt's term ended in 1997, but she did not come up for re-election until April. In response to Rudas' request that she resign, Master said, "If I would go to the membership, staff and other board members and if there would be a feeling that I am not doing what I feel is the best for the shelter and the best for the animals, I would have no problem stepping down. "But this is one person's opinion."

"I find it ironic that in one year, they give me two awards and the next, they're kicking me off the board," said Rudas, who last year received the group's Tail Wagger's Award and Volunteer of the Quarter.

Silverblatt, also removed from the board in April's vote, believes her friendship with Rudas was a factor.

The removal ended 25 years of volunteering by Silverblatt, who organized the SPCA's most successful fund-raiser, the SPCA Cook Book.

Rudas and Silverblatt concede their opinions differed from those of the executive board and caused friction. Both said they believe they were removed because of a disagreement with the executive board on personnel issues.

SPCA board President Susan Master said the election was conducted correctly.

"Melissa gave an awful lot of time to the shelter," Master said. But, "As far as I'm concerned, it was a very fair election."

In her three years as a volunteer, Rudas, a Bethlehem lawyer, served as the SPCA's solicitor and prosecuted abuse cases. She wrote to SPCA solicitor Beth Knickerbocker, threatening to sue the board to regain her seat.

She also asked for the resignations of Master, board Vice President Gloria Senavitis, Treasurer Tom Kelchner and Executive Director Mary Sarsen. She said she would not seek monetary damages from the shelter.

Efforts to reach Knickerbocker for comment were unsuccessful. Rudas said that last week, Knickerbocker told her she isn't representing the board on this matter.

After a confrontation over recommendations from the personnel committee with which the executive committee disagreed, Rudas said, she was called to meet with Master and Kelchner in January. At the meeting, Rudas said, Master asked for her resignation.

"I said, `No -- you'll have to do what you have to do to throw me off,'" Rudas said.

Rudas said Master told her the executive committee already voted to remove her from the board.

"She said I was going in a different direction from the board," Rudas said.

Rudas wrote a letter, demanding to be reinstated, and was by the time of the annual meeting.

Rudas said she thought she had a year left in her term as board member, but found her name on the ballot for the April board election.

Master said the executive committee changed all board terms to two years.

"There was a time when we tried to stagger the terms, but it became extremely confusing," Master said. "That's why we changed the rule to, no matter what term you were elected to, everybody was changed to a two-year term."

But Rudas said the group's bylaws do not say that, and said she could find no mention of the term change in SPCA records. Also, any change should apply only to future terms, she said.

Distributed with the April ballot was a report from the nominating committee -- Master, Senavitis and Kelchner -- that said, "We believe that we have various areas of weakness and have addressed some of them through the recommendations we make tonight."

Neither Rudas nor Silverblatt were recommended by the nominating committee. Silverblatt's term ended in 1997, but she did not come up for re-election until April.

In response to Rudas' request that she resign, Master said, "If I would go to the membership, staff and other board members and if